In Cheboksary, a former Ministry of Economic Development official has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for taking bribes.

The court has found sufficient the evidence provided by investigating authorities of the Investigative Committee for the Chuvash Republic, and convicted a former employee of the Ministry of Economic Development, Industry and Trade of the Chuvash Republic. By the court’s decision, the former 40-year-old Chief of Alcohol Market and Licensing Regulation of the Regional Economic Development Department Natalya Gubina and her accomplice, a 35-year-old director of one of the local companies, Oleg Koryagin, have been convicted of financial crimes. The investigation and the court have found that Gubina had committed four offenses under part 2 and item (c) of part 5, Art. 290 of the Russian Criminal Code “Bribe-taking, including on a considerable scale,” whereas her accomplice Koryagin has been convicted of mediation in bribery (item (b), part 3 of Art. 291.1 of the Russian Criminal Code).

According to investigative bodies, in the period from August 2014 to June 2015 Natalya Gubina was illegally taking money from the heads and a founding member of four commercial organizations in Cheboksary with the assistance of her acquaintance Oleg Koryagin, who received 10% of the bribes. The amount of bribes ranged from 80 thousand to 200 thousand rubles. The total amount of bribes equaled to 480 thousand rubles. The public servant charged businessmen for obtaining a positive decision on granting licenses for activities on the preparation, storage, processing, and sale of ferrous and non-ferrous metals.

The Regional Investigative Committee has noted that it managed to curtail the corruption activity of the official and her accomplice in June 2015, when they once again attempted to illegally obtain money from a founder of an organization.

During the investigation, the law enforcement authorities interrogated about 30 witnesses to establish all the circumstances of the crimes committed. In addition, the investigator made a submission to the Ministry of Economic Development asking to eliminate all violations that could contribute to the commission of corruption offenses.

The court has sentenced Natalya Gubina to 7 years and a month in a standard regime penal colony. She was arrested in the courtroom. Her accomplice, Oleg Koryagin has received a suspended sentence of 4 years of imprisonment. The court has also sentenced them to fines of 4 million and 1 million 800 thousand rubles, respectively. In addition, they have been denied the right to occupy positions related to organizational and management as well as administrative and economic functions in state and local authorities for a term of 3 and 2 years, respectively.

The court judgment has not yet entered into force and may be appealed.